1x12: The No-Brainer

[wendelah1]

I won't lie. I was not thrilled with this episode. But I am curious to see what the rest of you think so I am withholding further comment.


Writer: David H. Goodman, Brad Caleb Kane
Director: John Polson
Originally aired: 27 Jan 2009

Synopsis: The Fringe Team is called in to investigate two cases of individuals found dead with liquefied brains oozing out of their orifices. That jack-ass Sanford Harris keeps trying to interfere and undermine Olivia's investigation, but it doesn't work. She still saves the day, catches the perp, and saves her niece Ella from getting her brain fried, too. Also, Carla Warren's mother shows up at Harvard and she and Walter share a moment.

Most Memorable Quote:
BROYLES: No, you listen to me. What you're passing off as bureaucratic concern looks an awful lot like a personal vendetta, and if you push it I will stake my career on her behalf.
SANFORD HARRIS: (stands toe-to-toe with Broyles) Are you threatening me, Phillip?
BROYLES: You decide to go after Olivia Dunham, you're going after me, and all the red tape in the world won't protect you.

Links:
Transcript
The A.V. Club
Polite Dissent: "Another week, another episode of Fringe with painfully bad medicine — only this time with bad computer science as well!"

That pretty well sums it up for me.

And just in case anyone was worried, from Popular Mechanics: Fringe Fact v. Fiction: Could Your Brain Actually Turn to Goo?

Fanfiction:
If there is any, I haven't found it, and I'm not sure I would read it. But put it in the comments anyway.

Comments

[corwinofamber]

Yeah, the computer science is horrid in this one. Theres no way to get anything off of "fused" hard drive platters. It might be just within the bounds of possibility to write a program that could reliably cause seizures in susceptible people. But liquifying brains? No. Spying through webcams is a real thing.

Although speaking as a system administrator, I have fantasized about nuking someones brain over the network.

Snoopy Astrid actually had a purpose in this one.

They could have easily linked this episode to the ZFT arc. Luke's dad seemed to want to sell Headache 1.0.

Awkward awkward Rachel/Peter flirting that goes nowhere.

Interesting counterpoint: Olivia doesn't believe in shielding people from the truth vs
Walter, who certainly does

Perp of the week is ultimately a boring example of psychological projection.

Broyles vs Harris was awesome. Notable about that is that Harris was the reason Broyles
was giving Olivia shit in the premiere.

That's about it.

[wendelah1]

Although speaking as a system administrator, I have fantasized about nuking someones brain over the network.

I can only imagine.

Snoopy Astrid actually had a purpose in this one.

Yes! I wanted more Astrid every week. Such an underutilized character.

They could have easily linked this episode to the ZFT arc. Luke's dad seemed to want to sell Headache 1.0.

Or to Massive Dynamic for that matter. There must be a commercial application for brain-melting computer programs.

Awkward awkward Rachel/Peter flirting that goes nowhere.

God, I know. I don't know why but Rachel just gets on my nerves in these episodes. I blame the writers. I should write her fix-it fic, give her a backstory of her own. I'd like her better afterward.

Broyles vs Harris was awesome. Notable about that is that Harris was the reason Broyles
was giving Olivia shit in the premiere.

Yes, Broyles has made a complete about-face on that.

[corwinofamber]

Or to Massive Dynamic for that matter. There must be a commercial application for brain-melting computer programs.

That'd be a good one too. Either would have made this episode less of a throwaway.

I should write her fix-it fic, give her a backstory of her own. I'd like her better afterward.

Please do!

[casually_cruel]

Interesting counterpoint: Olivia doesn't believe in shielding people from the truth vs
Walter, who certainly does

Interesting point. For Olivia, ignorance is not bliss. This makes for some good internal conflict towards the end of season 2.

[casually_cruel]

This episode almost seems like a bunch of extra stuff thrown together. The case has nothing really to do with the ZFT, then you throw in the uncharacteristic music during scene transitions, Peter's shady connections, weird flirting between him and Rachel, and you've got a heap of dropped themes.

That said, the case does bring up the whole 'sons protecting guilty fathers' theme, though I guess Peter doesn't know what Walter is guilty of.

I'm not sure why the articles chose to target brain melting as the unreasonable part of this episode. It seems like this could be a mix between liquefactive necrosis, which you do see in the central nervous system, and cerebral edema. I could see how massive cell death in the brain could lead to a kind of 'melting', just not in the literal sense of overheating/boiling over.

I'm also willing to buy the whole computer-program induced thing. Mainly because it would put the case more of less outside the purview of the CDC, as Olivia points out. I don't know anything about computers, but the brain is as weirdly sensitive as it is resilient and we don't understand it half the time so why not?

What makes no sense to me in the episode is how this guy, working out of some basement with no outside resources, designed this uber complex program. If he had stumbled upon it and hijacked it for revenge, I might buy that.

Broyles standing up for Olivia is so great. I'm sure the climb to his current position wasn't an easy one, so the fact that he's willing to stake his career on her behalf means that much more coming from him.

[wendelah1]

This episode almost seems like a bunch of extra stuff thrown together. The case has nothing really to do with the ZFT, then you throw in the uncharacteristic music during scene transitions, Peter's shady connections, weird flirting between him and Rachel, and you've got a heap of dropped themes.

This had some dropped plot-lines, the Rachel/Peter flirting being the worst. I miss Peter the badass, too.

I'm not sure why the articles chose to target brain melting as the unreasonable part of this episode. It seems like this could be a mix between liquefactive necrosis, which you do see in the central nervous system, and cerebral edema. I could see how massive cell death in the brain could lead to a kind of 'melting', just not in the literal sense of overheating/boiling over.

Wait. I'm just a nurse but isn't cerebral edema caused by the excess accumulation of fluid in the intracellular or extracellular spaces of the brain? That's not what Walter described, is it?

I don't know anything about computers either but I'm pretty sure they can't cause strokes or bacterial infections, so I don't see how liquefactive necrosis comes into play here. In any case, that wouldn't explain the victim's brains oozing out through their nasal passages.

I'm also willing to buy the whole computer-program induced thing. Mainly because it would put the case more of less outside the purview of the CDC, as Olivia points out. I don't know anything about computers, but the brain is as weirdly sensitive as it is resilient and we don't understand it half the time so why not?

Ha ha! I need to misquote Bones from Star Trek: TOS here: "I'm a doctor, Jim, not a computer expert!"

What makes no sense to me in the episode is how this guy, working out of some basement with no outside resources, designed this uber complex program. If he had stumbled upon it and hijacked it for revenge, I might buy that.

Yet Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak launched Apple out of a garage in California. In any case, no matter how complex the program, I feel I can state with a reasonably degree of certainty that computers can't melt brains.

Broyles standing up for Olivia is so great. I'm sure the climb to his current position wasn't an easy one, so the fact that he's willing to stake his career on her behalf means that much more coming from him.

I loved Broyles so much for doing that. It's a complete 180 from his position in the pilot.

[casually_cruel]

Wait. I'm just a nurse but isn't cerebral edema caused by the excess accumulation of fluid in the intracellular or extracellular spaces of the brain? That's not what Walter described, is it?

You're absolutely right. I was thinking along the lines of cytotoxic edema. Walter described it as 'trapping the brain in a loop' so I figure if you take that one step further, you'd get massive neuronal cell death because you'd mess up all the neurotransmitters and metabolic activity in the brain. There probably wouldn't be time for the necrosis to become liquefactive, since that's really after the fact. But I was thinking about the science of this episodes and things that could melt a brain and it came to mind because of its "gooification" factor, to quote Walter.

In any case, that wouldn't explain the victim's brains oozing out through their nasal passages.

Definitely not. The blood brain barrier is tough! I guess if intracranial pressure went high enough you might get a rupture and then leakage, but it would have to be pretty high.

I know it's all ridiculous, and I can't even begin to fathom how you could do this through a computer, but I think it's enough of a jumping-off point. (Sorry if I got a little carried away. Thanks for talkin' science with me!)

Ha ha! I need to misquote Bones from Star Trek: TOS here: "I'm a doctor, Jim, not a computer expert!"

Exactly! Hahaha

Yet Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak launched Apple out of a garage in California.

Oh I didn't know that. This killer makes a lot more sense now, ha.

In any case, no matter how complex the program, I feel I can state with a reasonably degree of certainty that computers can't melt brains.

And let's all be grateful for that!

[wendelah1]

"And let's all be grateful for that!"

Indeed. Mine would have melted long ago if that were the case...

[estella_c]

Actually, I suspect a number have already melted as they gaze screenward, and no one has noticed.

I find I have nothing to say about this ep. I guess it's significant in some way that Olivia persuades Peter to stop protecting Walter. But why is Peter protecting Walter? I know he's warming to his parent, but is he at the point of playing reverse-parent? I did like the scenes with Mrs. ---, who played them well. Yet a humble question: why can't she clue Peter in that she is not planning to be nasty to his father? It gets into the way of the script contour? Oh, okay.

Rachel is irritating. I don't know whether she was miscast, as she does nothing but smirk and beam and probably was given nothing more to do. The kid is good.

I think the brain leaks out like vomit because it provides a nice, yucko visual.

[wendelah1]

I guess it's significant in some way that Olivia persuades Peter to stop protecting Walter. But why is Peter protecting Walter? I know he's warming to his parent, but is he at the point of playing reverse-parent? I did like the scenes with Mrs. ---, who played them well. Yet a humble question: why can't she clue Peter in that she is not planning to be nasty to his father? It gets into the way of the script contour? Oh, okay.

I thought the actor did a good job but despite that I don't believe the scene. The woman's daughter died, Walter was the prime suspect, but he never stood trial. It's 17 years later, and all she wants to know is this?

JESSICA WARREN: I want to see you because... you were the last person to see my daughter alive, and...I've always wanted to ask... Was there anything else I could know? Anything,anything else...you could tell me about my daughter.

I'm not buying it. The scene is unbearably sentimental, it trivializes the woman's loss with a Hallmark Moment and lets Walter off the hook too easily.

I think the brain leaks out like vomit because it provides a nice, yucko visual.

That sums up so much of season one of Fringe. They show too damn much, which makes everything disgusting to look at, but far less scary than The X-Files, which excelled at showing just enough.

[estella_c]

He was a prime suspect? Of murder? He was put into an asylum for half a lifetime. And he is let off the hook. I don't buy that.

It is unclear to me what the circumstances were, but I thought it was ruled an accidental event.

Hallmark is a dirty word at our house.

The fact is that The X-Files didn't scare me and Fringe didn't either. Anything you can fit into a TV screen is ineffectual in that regard. But I catch a few thrills.

Maybe that's why I ship everyone in sight. Except Walter and Astrid. And I don't want anything involving Gene.

[wendelah1]

I never said it was a murder trial. Walter was charged with manslaughter but deemed unfit to stand trial. That's canon. You know I wouldn't make something like that up.

BROYLES: It says the guy has been at St. Claire's for 17 Years.
OLIVIA: I saw that. An assistant was killed in his lab. Rumors about Dr. Bishop using humans as guinea pigs. He was charged with manslaughter, but was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.

He was put into a mental institution instead. He'd been receiving treatment for whatever diagnosis they slapped on him. Now I don't recall what, but I am guessing some type of schizophrenia.

Walter Bishop committed unspeakable crimes against humanity during the course of his career. Seventeen years in a mental institution doesn't begin to exact penance for what he did. To me, the entire series is about the moral and spiritual redemption of Walter Bishop.

That scene felt cheesy to me, given the woman's loss, whatever Walter's ultimate responsibility in the young woman's death. The thing is, Walter didn't see people as human back in the day; he saw them as things--things he could use at will for his own purposes. Why would Carla's mother care what Walter thought? I sure as hell wouldn't. I'd want to know who the heck was responsible for letting the bad genii out of the bottle. I'd want him put back in the mental institution or I'd want him to stand trial. I wouldn't want a feel-good moment with the man who had been charged with the death of my child.

If the series had wanted us to take Mrs. Warren seriously as a character, they could have shown us something that would explain how she arrived at that place of resolution and even forgiveness. They didn't show us anything except the woman lurking in the bushes and being warned away by Peter. That's why I don't believe the scene.

Shipping everything in sight explains why you watch most television, apparently. ♥

[estella_c]

You mock my taste but you speak sooth. Where would television be today without sublimated sex?

I still think you're being hard on Walter. We do not know anything about the original event. I thought it involved a fire. Walter may have borne some blame, but surely an accident was involved. Did it drive him crazy? Maybe it had something to do with cutting out select portions of his brain. In any event, seventeen years in that hellhole, alone with his guilt, strikes me as sufficient punishment unless I know something more about the crime.

Let's look at the lady's seraphic forgiveness this way. It is the first taste of redemption Walter secretly (and maybe unconsciously) yearns for. It prepares us to watch carefully for Walter's earlier suspect behavior, which in fact endangered the universe. It is, um, foreshadowing.

You're certainly right that there should have been more to work with. TV writers. I'm sure they didn't know where they were going either.